BMW back out in front

BMW regained the top spot in luxury car sales from Audi last month on demand for the 3-Series and X1 SUV, while the Mercedes-Benz brand fell further behind its German rivals.

Deliveries of the BMW brand, the world's biggest luxury carmaker since 2005, rose 7 per cent in February, beating the 3.2 per cent gain posted by Volkswagen's Audi. BMW's bigger increase helped propel it back into the sales lead for the year, with the Munich-based manufacturer delivering 407 more cars than Audi in the first two months.

Daimler's Mercedes slipped deeper into third place, delivering 37,229 vehicles fewer than BMW through February, after sales at the Stuttgart-based carmaker dropped 5.8 per cent last month.

The carmaker is bringing new models to market in the coming months to help boost deliveries.